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Wisconsin Badgers Volleyball Does Unthinkable; Loses a Set AND a Match

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Wisconsin Badgers Volleyball vs. Nebraska
Oct 21, 2023; Lincoln, NE, USA; Nebraska Cornhuskers outside hitter Merritt Beason (13) attacks against Wisconsin Badgers outside hitter Temi Thomas-Ailara (12) and middle blocker Carter Booth (52) during the fourth set at the Bob Devaney Sports Center. Mandatory Credit: Dylan Widger-USA TODAY Sports

Well, the unthinkable has happened for the Wisconsin Badgers volleyball team.

Not only did the (now) No. 2 Wisconsin Badgers volleyball team lose a set…they lost a whole entire match last week! I know, I know, I’ll give you some time to pick your jaw up off the floor. Before we get into the excellent (from an entertainment standpoint, not a results standpoint) Badgers/Huskers match, let’s talk about Wisconsin’s first match of the week.

The Badgers (18-1 overall, 9-1 Big Ten) started slowly against a fired up Ohio State Buckeyes (8-12 overall, 5-6 B1G) squad last week, but still pushed their “sets won in a row” streak to 30, beating the Bucks 25-22, 25-15, 25-18. Wisconsin’s service game was on point, recording a season-high (again) 11 aces with Julia Orzol (career-high) and Izzy Ashburn (season-high) each notching four. Ashburn also set a new personal best with 37 assists in the match.

Carter Booth and Anna Smrek continued their dominant play at the net, stuffing four shots apiece, as the Badgers outblocked Ohio State 6.0-4.0 on the evening. Sarah Franklin had 16 kills to lead the way for UW’s offense and is having, if I do say so myself, a very, very good season.

“I think, as a team, belief is our super power. Believing in ourselves and the people around us that we know what we need to and that we’re going to do it,” Booth said after the match. With that win, the Badgers moved their school-record conference winning streak to 27 matches, which includes a 19-match winning streak at the Field House.

Wisconsin Badgers Volleyball Top Ranked Showdown vs. Nebraska

Next, the Wisconsin Badgers volleyball team was off to Lincoln, Neb. for a Saturday night heavyweight bout with Nebraska. Both teams came in undefeated. Wisconsin was ranked No. 1 in the nation, Nebraska was ranked No. 2. These two teams routinely lead the nation in attendance and have two of the most rabid fan bases in America. Hell, Nebraska recently sold out their FOOTBALL stadium for a volleyball match because they were so mad that the Badgers sold out the Kohl Center last year and set a new attendance record.

Needless to say, these two programs are mega-rivals on, and off, the court.

A lot of times these “GAMES OF THE CENTURY” do not live up to the massive hype surrounding them, Saturday night’s match was decidedly NOT one of those times. This match was one of the most entertaining, thrilling, heart-stopping Wisconsin sporting events I’ve ever watched.

It was a shame either team had to lose but it was even more of a shame that the losing team was, in fact, the Wisconsin Badgers. The now No. 1 Cornhuskers (19-0 overall, 10-0 B1G) battled back to force a fifth set and, on the back of a raucous crowd, handed UW their first loss of the season, 25-22, 17-25, 20-25, 26-24, 15-13.

To be perfectly honest, this match did not start off like an instant classic. Nebraska stormed out of the gate and held an 18-13 lead while looking like they were going to roll right over the Badgers. Anyone who has watched UW play knew that wasn’t going to happen, but it was an impressive start for the Huskers.

Wisconsin Badgers Volleyball got as close as 24-22, but the Huskers won the first set and had the momentum.

As everyone should know by now, momentum isn’t a real thing in sports and the Badgers kicked ass and took names in the second set thanks to a ridiculous 12 blocks. 

Devyn Robinson and CC Crawford each had six in the second stanza which held the Huskers to -0.077 hitting, their worst performance of the match. The third set was similar to the first set except that the roles were reversed. Wisconsin sped out to an 11-5 lead, pushed it to 20-11, and then held off a late Huskers rally to win the set by five.

The fourth set was where things really got kicked up to 11. In a match that contained 18 ties and seven lead changes, six and three of those, respectively, occurred in the pivotal fourth frame. Wisconsin jumped out to a 4-1 lead and it looked like the Huskers might be cooked but, as you may have guessed from already seeing the final score, they weren’t even close.

Nebraska tied at six apiece and then held the lead until it was 14-11 and then Wisconsin looked cooked! The Badgers chipped away at the lead until it was 14-13 but Nebraska pushed it back to three at 16-13. After the score was 17-15, Nebraska leading, MJ Hammill subbed back in and ran off a 3-0 run to give Wisconsin the lead back! Then Nebraska tied it. Then the Badgers were up by one.

UW took at 21-18 lead after a Temi Thomas-Ailara kill and it seemed like maybe, just maybe, they had control of the set. Lol, wrong. The Huskers tied it at 21, then Wisconsin was winning 23-21, then Nebraska tied it at 23, then Wisconsin had match point…and Nebraska tied it at 24 off a kill by Harper Murray. With Murray back to serve Nebraska won the next two points and sent the match to a decisive fifth set.

By this point I was curled up in a ball on the couch barely able to move. The fifth set was even more high-level volleyball which saw Wisconsin never trail (but also never lead by more than two) until back-to-back kills by Murray gave the Huskers a 13-12 lead. Murray also had the final two kills of the match, sandwiching a Franklin kill for UW, and Nebraska won 15-13.

Franklin had an absolutely monster match against Nebraska. I’d write more, but Wisconsin Badgers volleyball assistant coach Annemarie Hickey already did a better job than I could, so read her analysis instead.

A weird stat from the Nebraska match: UW didn’t record any aces against the Huskers. This was the first time all season the Badgers were shutout in that category and is even weirder when you consider the Badgers lead the Big Ten in conference-only matches with 2.22 aces per set.

So here we sit at the halfway point of Big Ten play. Wisconsin isn’t exactly where they wanted to be, but they are also very much in striking distance of another Big Ten title. UW gets Nebraska at the Field House on Black Friday (could be a good match to do a Black Out???) for a chance at revenge and then the NCAA Tournament starts at the end of November. All of their goals are still within reach and now that they’ve finally lost a match…they’re probably pissed off. I doubt the rest of the Big Ten will like that.

Up next: UW finishes up their mini road trip with a Friday night match against Michigan State (6:00 p.m. CT, B1G+) in East Lansing and then returns home on Sunday for a Border Battle showdown with Minnesota (3:55 p.m., FOX, which is directly after the Packers/Vikings game also on FOX) on network TV (!!!) which is super cool. The Field House should be jumping for that one.

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Drew Hamm is a seasoned sports journalist with an extensive background in covering the Wisconsin Badgers. He has previously held positions as the site manager at Bucky's 5th Quarter and founder of Badgers Ball Knower. Currently, he contributes as a staff writer for BadgerNotes.com.

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